In every village, a teacher is always accorded special regard. They are expected to grace every event in their vicinity without fail; from child-naming to funerals. Within these events, the teacher in question has to paIn every village, a teacher is always accorded special regard.
They are expected to grace every event in their vicinity without fail; from child-naming to funerals. Within these events, the teacher in question has to part with something. Within this mix, there is a teacher-to-be who is rendered casualty because of a small misunderstanding I need to clarify henceforth.
Most people are mistaken to imagine that so and so is out of the woods once they graduate. For those who have done a course in teaching, graduation just marks a stage. The next stage after graduating is what many term as “tarmacking.” This is derived from the notion that one has to look for a job from one place to another. After securing a job on contractual basis, one later realizes that the problems are unending.
This is because some schools pay as low as 5,000 shillings to a person who has graduated with a degree. Some principals are paying these innocent souls whenever they feel like. This is because there is no workable means for teachers under the board of management and their counterparts under PTA in primary schools to join a union. The other colleagues on permanent and pensionable terms remain aloof and nonchalant as these groups of teachers suffer silently.
These teachers literally run schools. They are always on the ground ensuring that the programs in school run as per schedule. The principals and teachers use them to run schools as they obey simply because they do not want to lose their job. On the other hand, the teachers in the government payroll choose to ‘teach-and-go’ once the principal decides to ‘eat alone.’
The TSC-employed teachers need ‘oil’ for their wheels to move unlike the unconfirmed teachers who work with or without money dubbed “remedial” or any other motivation means. Sadly, the unconfirmed teacher ends up relaxing once confirmed.
Sadly enough, they do not have any form of job security and can even find a new person taking their classes the next morning. Another common way of sacking them is deliberately choosing to have them miss classes to teach then logically, one would take that polite sacking.
Interestingly, the subordinate staff members on permanent basis tend to laugh at these teachers. It is hard for them to access a document showing their salary breakdown and many are not allowed to have a document acting as proof that they are employed.
This is a message for all the people who do not know how teaching operates. Before a teacher is employed on permanent and pensionable terms, do not expect much from them as they are trying to make ends meet. Do not call them for too many fund raisings as this would just stress them.
